Above: This image accompanied a story that ran in the Orlando Sentinel on April 1, 1984. The story described a creature known as the Tasmanian Mock Walrus (TMW) that had recently been introduced to Florida from Tasmania. It was described as a "whiskered, four-inch-long creature, which purrs like a cat and gets around efficiently on four tiny paws." More remarkably, the creature had the mild temperament of a hamster, could be trained to use a litter box, and ate cockroaches. One TMW could eliminate a house of its roach infestation.

A Florida couple was said to be seeking to breed the TMW in America, but unfortunately they were being threatened by the local pest-control industry who, sensing a potent threat in the TMW, had pressured the city government to ban the creature.

Below: Protestors are shown picketing outside the offices of the Orlando city government to call attention to the plight of the TMW.